Stanford offers free tuition for families making less than $125,000

Stanford University just made it a whole lot easier for some students to attend college.

As part of an expansion to its financial aid package, starting next school year, students whose families have a total annual income and typical assets less than $125,000 will not be expected to contribute to tuition. Instead, it'll be covered by federal and state grants and scholarships.

The university's monetary threshold for free tuition used to be $100,000.

Another new perk: Students whose families make less than $65,000 a year, won't have to pay costs for room and board.

Students who receive free tuition are expected to pay Stanford back with $5,000 earned through summer employment or work during the school year.

This is pretty generous, especially since Stanford just increased its tuition prices for the 2015-16 school year.

According to Palo Alto Online, the board of trustees approved a 3.5 percent tuition increase back in February. Undergraduate students will now have to pay $60,427 a year. That breaks down to almost $46,000 in tuition and just over $14,000 in room and board.

A writer for Vox reports Stanford is able to be so generous with its financial aid because it has an endowment of $21 billion, making it one of the richest universities. It also accepts a large portion of students who come from higher-income families, who help subsidize those from lower-income families.

Stanford is just one of many schools offering free tuition to certain students.